The Key to Success

I am a fifth year senior and graduating in May. The reason it has taken me five years to graduate is because I have taken time off of school to work. My dad is an entrepreneur and I have been working with him since I was about 10-years-old. The reason I am saying this is because I have had a lot of great teachers and have met a lot of successful businessmen in my life. I have observed the qualities of successful men and women and Heinricks summed it up perfectly in chapter 7. With only two words Heinricks gave you the key to being successful in life no matter what you do. These two words are Practical Wisdom.
Practical wisdom is “the appearance of knowing what to do,” “the audience should consider you a sensible person, as well as sufficiently knowledgeable to deal with the problem at hand,” “it’s an instinct for making the right decisions on every occasion.” Having a four point GPA or an MBA from Harvard isn’t going to make you successful. If you look at some of the most successful men in our country: Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, and more, most of them were not academics much less graduated from college. They had an idea, the practical wisdom and rhetorical leadership to get people to follow them and create companies that shape our country and the world.
While I did enjoy the other chapters and found useful lessons in each of them, I am extremely impressed with chapter 7. Heinricks never ceases to impressive. Each chapter is tailored in a unique way to covertly deliver his message. He has the ability to captivate his audience and it isn’t until later when you are reflecting on what you read that you become aware of the powerful lessons he gave.